Democratic Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador has renewed interest in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a resident of the state who was mistakenly deported to the country.
The senator traveled to El Salvador this week to press for Abrego Garcia’s release and personally met with him in a hotel restaurant in San Salvador.
During a press conference at Dulles International Airport upon his return on Friday, Van Hollen criticized the deportation and outlined conditions Garcia faced.
“This is about safeguarding the constitutional rights of everyone living in the United States,” he said.
Background on Abrego Garcia’s Case
Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 and accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Abrego Garcia denied being a member of the gang but two judges, in separate rulings, concluded that he was an MS-13 member, based on confidential information provided to the court. Nonetheless he was shielded from deportation to his homeland because he said that he would be targeted by MS-13’s gangland rivals.
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador after being arrested last month in what Trump Administration lawyers said was an “administrative error”.
His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the United States, although his wife previously accused him of domestic violence and obtained a restraining order against him. She says they have since reconciled.
Who Is Senator Chris Van Hollen?
Van Hollen is the senior senator from Maryland, serving since 2017. The Democrat has had a focus on human rights and immigration issues and has emerged as a critic of enforcement abuses.
Van Hollen previously served in the House of Representatives and sits on Senate committees that oversee foreign affairs and homeland security.
His visit to El Salvador this week was part of an effort to address what he called an “illegal scheme” in which he say the president of El Salvador is complicit.
Van Hollen said that Abrego Garcia recounted being unable to contact anyone during his initial detention. He was arrested in Baltimore, says he was denied a phone call and transferred to Texas, then deported on a flight with blacked-out windows with other individuals. They did not know their destination.
Three Takeaways From the Meeting
- He’s says he has been transferred several times: Van Hollen revealed that after his arrest, Abrego Garcia said he was moved from a Detention Center in Maryland, to a location in Texas, to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, and then to another detention center in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
- Conditions in CECOT were severe, according to Van Hollen: He was placed in a cell with other prisoners according to Van Hollen. He was “traumatized” by being at CECOT, where, according to the senator, Abrego Garcia reported being in a crowded cell and subjected to intimidation from inmates in other blocks. aBREGO Garcia told Van Hollen that thinking of his family is what has given him the “strength to persevere,” according to the Maryland senator.
- His transfer out of CECOT didn’t end his isolation: Though Abrego Garcia was moved to a facility in Santa Ana, his situation remains bleak. Van Hollen said the conditions were “better” but noted that Abrego Garcia was still in a blackout from communication or updates. The conversation Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia had was the first conversation Abrego Garcia says he has had since he was deported, Van Hollen said.
What Happens Next
It is unclear if or when the Trump Administration will agree on any terms to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
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